Year-End Round-Up (2023)

Metallica, Five Finger Death Punch, Ice Nine Kills, and Overkill at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, August 6, 2023. 📸: Laura German

Thanks for your continued support of Stream N’ Destroy in 2023.

Even with a very specific niche readership — you, the creative people onstage and behind-the-scenes in the Hard Rock, Metal, and Punk(ish) community — Stream N’ Destroy consistently ranks in the Top 20 of the music category on Substack, where I moved the newsletter in November 2019.

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Billboard Year-End Charts 

Top Hard Rock Artists 2023 

1. Linkin Park 

2. HARDY 

3. Bad Omens 

4. Metallica 

5. Sleep Token 

6. Foo Fighters 

7. Falling In Reverse 

8. Queen 

9. Ghost 

10. Nickelback 

Hot Hard Rock Songs Artists 2023

1. Bad Omens 

2. HARDY 

3. Sleep Token 

4. Linkin Park 

5. Falling In Reverse 

6. Ghost 

7. Metallica 

8. Foo Fighters 

9. Piece The Veil 

10. Bring Me The Horizon 

Mainstream Rock Airplay Artists 2023

1. Metallica 

2. Bad Omens 

3. Disturbed 

4. HARDY 

5. Foo Fighters 

6. Linkin Park 

7. Jelly Roll 

8. Godsmack 

9. Pop Evil 

10. Falling In Reverse 

Alternative Airplay Artists 2023

1. Fall Out Boy 

2. Linkin Park 

3. Beach Weather 

4. Foo Fighters 

5. blink-182

6. All Time Low 

7. Dirty Heads 

8. Paramore 

9. Bad Omens 

10. Weezer 

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Top Current Album Sales 2023 

1. Metallica 72 Seasons (No. 15 overall) 

2. Paramore This Is Why (No. 37) 

3. Foo Fighters But Here We Are (No. 42) 

4. Fall Out Boy So Much (For) Stardust (No. 52) 

5. Greta Van Fleet Starcatcher (No. 70) 

6. Ghost Phantomime EP (No. 72) 

7. HARDY The Mockingbird & The Crow (No. 74) 

8. Queens Of The Stone Age In Times New Roman… (No. 83) 

9. Disturbed Divisive (No. 85) 

10. Ozzy Osbourne Patient No. 9 (No. 96) 

11. Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream… (No. 100) 

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Top Hard Rock Albums 2023

(Sales + Streaming)

1. Queen Greatest Hits (Hollywood) 1981 

2. HARDY The Mockingbird & The Crow (Big Loud) 2023 

3. Guns N’ Roses Greatest Hits (Geffen) 2004 

4. Nickelback The Best Of Nickelback: Volume 1 (Roadrunner) 2013 

5. Metallica Metallica (Blackened) 1991 

6. AC/DC Back in Black (Atlantic) 1980 

7. Bon Jovi Greatest Hits: The Ultimate Collection (Island/Mercury) 2010 

8. Linkin Park Hybrid Theory (Warner) 2000 

9. Linkin Park Meteora (Warner) 2003 

10. System Of A Down Toxicity (American) 2001

11. Five Finger Death Punch A Decade of Destruction (Prospect Park) 2017 

12. 3 Doors Down The Greatest Hits (Republic) 2012

13. Foo Fighters Greatest Hits (Roswell/RCA) 2009 

14. Bad Omens The Death Of Peace Of Mind (Sumerian) 2022 

15. Aerosmith Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits (Columbia) 1980 

16. Metallica 72 Seasons (Blackened) 2023 

17. Rage Against The Machine Rage Against The Machine (Epic) 1992 

18. Foo Fighters The Essential Foo Fighters (Legacy/Sony) 2022 

19. Seether Vicennial: 2 Decades of Seether (Craft) 2021 

20. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV (Atlantic) 1971 

21. Korn Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (Epic/Immortal) 2004 

22. Nirvana Nirvana (DGC) 2002 

23. Sleep Token Take Me Back To Eden (Spinefarm) 2023 

24. Pearl Jam Ten (Epic) 1991 

25. Foo Fighters But Here We Are (Roswell/RCA) 2023

26. Aerosmith Greatest Hits (Capitol) 2023 

27. Metallica Master of Puppets (Blackened) 1986 

28. Ozzy Osbourne The Essential Ozzy Osbourne (Epic/Legacy) 2003

29. Three Days Grace One-X (Jive) 2006 

30. Pierce The Veil Collide With The Sky (Fearless) 2012 

31. Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas Eve… (Lava/Atlantic) 1996 

32. Alice In Chains Dirt (Columbia) 1992 

33. Led Zeppelin Mothership (Atlantic/Rhino) 2007 

34. Cage The Elephant Melophobia (RCA) 2013 

35. System Of A Down System of a Down (American) 1998 

36. Linkin Park Minutes to Midnight (Warner) 2007 

37. Greta Van Fleet Starcatcher (Lava/Republic) 2023 

38. Creed Greatest Hits (Wind-Up) 2004 

39. Deftones Around the Fur (Maverick) 1997 

40. Motley Crue The Dirt Soundtrack (Motley/Eleven Seven) 2019 

41. Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream… (Warner) 2023 

42. Queens Of The Stone In Times New Roman… (Matador) 2023 

43. The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie… (Virgin) 1995 

44. Disturbed Divisive (Reprise) 2022 

45. Ghost Phantomime EP (Loma Vista) 2023

46. Måneskin RUSH! (Epic/Sony) 2023

47. Pierce The Veil The Jaws of Life (Fearless) 2023 

48. Metallica Ride the Lightning (Blackened) 1984

49. Nickelback Get Rollin’ (BMG) 2022) 

50. Godsmack Ligthing Up The Sky (BMG) 2023 

(See all of Billboard’s Year-End charts here.)

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The 50 Best-Reviewed Albums list shifted a bit with the addition of some new lists, including Brooklyn Vegan, Distorted Sound, Knotfest, MetalSucks, The Needledrop, Paper, Punktastic, Rock Sound, and XS Noize. So give it another look, and (re) read the explanation behind the methodology of the list.

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I’ve updated the Spotify playlist accordingly, with the most popular tracks from all 50 albums, and dozens more additions from other well-received releases, including standalone singles. Next week, the playlist will refresh with brand new 2024 songs, refreshed a few times per week, every week.

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Take another look at the Spotify Wrapped 2023 round-up, as several acts were added since the list was first published, pushing the total over 250.

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See you all in 2024.

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